Manufacture of ornamental chains and bracelets



(No Model.)

J. HITOTTEN.

MANUFACTURE OF ORNAMENTAL CHAINS AND BRACELETS.

No. 243,999. Patented'July 55 1881..

QAQQ AAKQ N. r-zrzns. Phulo-Lilhogmpher. Washinglun. n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

I JAMES H. TOTTEN, OF ATTLEBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS.

MANUFACTURE OF ORNAMENTAL. CHAINS AND BRACELETS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 243,999, dated July 5, 1881.

Application filed April 30, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES H. ToT'rEN, of Attleborough, in the county of Bristol and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Manufacture of Jewelry; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention relates to jewelry, and is intended to be applied especially to ornamental chains and bracelets. The object is to furnish an exceedingly cheap and strong article, every part of which is made by stamping, and in the construction of which no solder, rivets, or external fastening device is required or used.

The invention consists in the peculiar links formed from a single blank of metal, bentinto shape and connected without the use of any fastening device except that afiorded by their own peculiarities of construction.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side, Fig. 2 a top view, and Fig. 3 a separate view,of a blank before bending.

In the construction of the separate links from which my chain or bracelet is composed, I take a fiat blank of sheet metal-such as gold, silver, or composition-and with a proper die and cutter I stamp out the flat blank shown in Fig. 3. This consists of side plates, 1 1, a tongue, 2, at one end, and a shorter tongue, 3, at the other. In the center two rectangular perforations, 4. 4., are formed, leaving a thin strip of metal, 5, which forms a pivot. The fiat linkblanks thus formed may be ornamented by embossing with a die, or by engraving or chasing, or by scalloping the edges, or in any manner that taste and fancy may dietate. In forming the chain or bracelet from these flat blanks, one of the links is bent by pliers, so that the side plates, 1 1, are opposite each other and nearly parallel; and this operation is facilitated by the fact that considerable metal has been removed at the bendingpoint to form the hinge. The operation of bending the plate brings the openings 4 4: opposite each other, and the long tongue 2 on the end of another blank, which has been bent into shape in the same manner, is passed through the perforations. The end of the tongue is then bent on itself and caught behind the tongue 3 on the same link, when a pressure of the pliers will pinch the parts t0- get-her into the shape shown in Fig. 2, the part 5 acting as a pivot on which the bent tongue 2 plays, giving flexibility and ease of motion to the separate links. Other links would then be added in the same way ad infim'mm, and, as will be evident, are firmly secured together without the use of anyextra fastening.

This device forms an exceedingly neat and compact article of jewelry, while its excessive simplicity and the ease with which it is produced make the cost of production very small.

Having thus described my invent-ion, what I claim is-- In a chain or bracelet, the combination of the links formed from single pieces of metal, and having the pivot 5 and the interlocking tongues 2 3.

In testimony whereofI have signed myname to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses;

JAMES H. TOTTEN.

Witnesses:

J. E. POND, Jr., THOMAS TOTTEN. 

